David Bowie

This is Not America

David Bowie is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996

In 1939, the transatlantic liner the St. Louis left Germany and set sail for the United States. It carried nearly 1,000 European Jews, all of them fleeing the Holocaust. But the U.S. government refused to permit the refugees to disembark and the St. Louis was forced to sail back to Europe. A large percentage of its passengers would be killed by the Nazis in the ensuing years. On Friday, President Trump signed an executive order banning the immigration of refugees from seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Syria. The action is not just racist and callous, it is wholly arbitrary. There is no evidence of an increased danger to the U.S. from Syrian refugees, who already must pass through a thorough vetting process. (Lost in all this is that there already is an extensive vetting process, and there always has been.) It seems that one of our most shameful national moments is repeating itself. This is not the America we know, and it's not an America we want to know. —The Editors

Lyrics

This is not America, (sha la la la la)
A little piece of you
The little peace in me
Will die (This is not a miracle)
For this is not America
Blossom fails to bloom this season
Promise not to stare
Too long (This is not America)
For this is not the miracle
There was a time
A storm that blew so pure
For this could be the biggest sky
And I could have the faintest idea
For this is not America
(Sha la la la la, sha la la la la, sha la la la la)
This is not America, no
This is not, (sha la la la la)
Snowman melting from the inside
Falcon spirals to the ground
(This could be the biggest sky)
So bloody red, tomorrow's clouds
A little piece of you
The little peace in me
Will die (This could be a miracle)
For this is not America
There was a time
A wind that blew so young
For this could be the biggest sky
And I could have the faintest idea
For this is not America
(Sha la la la la, sha la la la la, sha la la la la)
This is not America, no
This is not, (sha la la la)
This is not America, no
This is not
This is not America, no
This is not, (sha la la la)